Club News

Wilkes-Barre Breakers Rugby Football Club est. 1973, 2007 Spring Outlook

Written by “Mercury” Matt DiLiberto

While many non-rugby citizens sit at home in the winter and watch the rain hit their windows with a bag of weekender middlesworth chips and a remote in their hands, the players of the Wilkes-Barre Rugby Football Club Breakers have another mission and activity on their mind. The Breakers RFC have a vision to win the EPRU division 3 championchips next fall season and continue to strive for excellence. Dedication, determination, persiverance, and consistency among many other unmatched qualities medicate our strive to succeed both on and off the field. With this last fall season under belt, many Breakers players and fans believe we have the talent and experience in the right places to make a very strong run for the National Division Three rugby championships next year. Also, while not overlooking any season, the Breakers more importantly must take one season at a time and the 2007 Spring season is currently under way with practices two weeks your elder. With some players leaving and many new faces returning or just coming out for the team, the outlook and core of the mix of experience and young athletic youth looks promising for the Breakers. Mark “T” Barry is one Breaker who has recently participated in one rugby tradition. The last game of the fall was T’s last game as a full-time Breaker and thus T respectfully so, laid his spikes on the middle of the playing field which is part of rugby tradition. This gesture symbolizes that T has left everything on the field and always gave his heart and all the effort he had to himself, family, and his fellow teammates. In playing with T for one full season of rugby, spring, summer, and fall, i can personally second the notion of T leaving everything on the field and playing like a true warrior. Congratulations to T and his career and the continual effort T has put into this club. Without players and leaders like T, this club may not still be afloat and running since 1973 with its great tradition of tough-hardnosed, smashmouth, leave it all on the field rugby win or loss. At the other end of the spectrum, we have four rookie forwards and two rookie backs for the spring season. This new pool of talent coupled with the return of many veteran players via injury or Australia (Joe Shurmitis) gives us a bright outlook towards this spring season with very high expectations. Also, many Breaker players and rugby fans are speaking of the good posibility of an undefeated spring season with hard work and sacrifices while playing to our potential.

Team/Player Profiles:

In the scrum, returning veterans will be Captain and firey eyed Mark “T” Barry, Drew “Gumby” Hawley for Drew’s extraordinary ability to unaturally stretch his arms and steal line outs, scrappy and tough-nosed Joe Sinavage, George Milhalchick who brings the high intensity and fear factor by scaring the opposing team with his nuiances, Ra Ra Rory Sweeney who comes back after a leg injury to assume his duties as a flanker, and the returning and aging beauty Bill Cooker who brings years of insight and excellence to the Breakers. Also Chuck Crusan, who is one of the web masters adds years of rugby experience and toughness second to none. Tony “T-Money” Van Scoy also a web master looks to contribue to the team either as a forward or back. T-Money is very versatile and one of the very few players who can be interchanged among forward and back positions. Tony has a great boot and has great athleticism, speed and toughness. To Bill Cooker, as a former captain and former president of the Breakers RFC, Cooker continually gives great outlook and opinions and is a coaching figure for this team. Also, Cooker played in a few games this past fall season to help the breakers out and our hats should go out to Bill for his efforts. Other forwards looking to make an impact this spring are Matt Crouse and Danny Messinger. Krouse brings great athleticism and toughness to our scrum along with providing a Boston Red Sox look with the tough, scrappy, i live in the mountains, mountaineer look by not shaving regularly. Also, Danny Messinger brings valuable experience, knowledge, and guidance to all of the younger players on the roster. Also, Jeff Hughes will hopefully return to the Breakers pitch. Jeff is a great flanker who brings superior toughness, knowledge, and experience along with specimen like strength and fierceness. Ralph Schumacher is also looking to contribute to the team while playing a forward position. Ralph brings years of experiencing and knowledge. Ralph is a well-respected coach at Bloomsburg University for the Woman’s Rugby Football Club.

Moving on to the backline outlook, which may be more in depth considering I am a back and i know the positions much better. Returning at scrum half is the wily veteran Tim Pearage who is also the president of the club. Tim brings great rugby experience to the team along with attaining a great first step and great quickness though his open-field speed is yet to be desired. Timmy is a great passer and tackler and looks forward to being the captain of the backline. Also at scrum half is Courtney Simas. Courtney is our newly elected sargent in arms and is assuming a leadership role this Spring season. Courtney suffices great abilities, and natural talent along with a strong persiverance and dedication to the team and rugby. At fly half, Nate is a returning player and a great fly half. Nate brings extreme toughness and scrappyness to possibly the most underappreciated, difficult, and complicated position in the backline. Nate is a great tackler, passer, leader, and runner and looks to be the quarterback of our backline this Spring. At inside center, an interchangeable possibility of two players may exist. I will assume that either Mark “Ed” DiLiberto or Joe “The Freak” Shurmitis will play at inside center and outside center as I said they are pretty interchangeable. Mark DiLiberto is the newly appointed team journalist and attains great athleticism, speed, toughness, and youth mixed in with over a year and half of rugby experience. Mark is known for his untimely kicks “Asshole of the Match”. On the contrary, with the recent purchase of EA Sports Rugby 2005 because of the reduced cost compared to rugby 2007, Mark and I have been placing kicks perfectly in the rugby x-box related game. Look for Mark and I to improve tenfold at kicking for the touchline. Great recommendation by Gary “The Great” Milazzo. At outside center, Joe Shurmitis returns to the lineup after a 4 month skid in Australia and the red light district. Joe brings natural talent and abilities to our backline. Joe makes the possibility of scoring at any time a mere reality. His toughness and ability to run through opposing players is unmatched and second to any runner I have ever seen. At right and left wing/wingers, are “Mercury” Matt DiLiberto, David “Like I give a fuck” Chiampi, John “Snake” Pliska, Matt Bryce and Ricky “T.O.” Simon among with another currently unknown rookie who is very athletic. Starting off with myself for the wingers, hopefully this spring season I will stay out of the emergency room barring any left arm dislocations. With that said, I am looking to help the breakers to an undefeated spring rugby season and hope to add to an extremely, fast, dangerous, and explosive backline. David “like i give a fuck” or “Poison Ivy” Chiampi looks to bring his goofy personality and off the field dramatics along with a good foot, knowledge, speed, toughness, and intensity to a solid backline. John “Snake” Pliska looks to bring great rugby experience along with underestimated speed and great leadership and toughness. Snake also brings great excitement to the backline and poses a threat to score at any time touching the ball from anywhere on the field. Also playing at the wing position is scholarly Matt Bryce. Matt is very athletic and brings speed, explosiveness and toughness to the backline. Next up, a new player, rookie Ricky “T.O” Simon, as a long-time best friend of mine and many sandlot football games together, I believe T.O has great athletic ability and can be turned into a great player and contribute to a very explosive backline. If T.O leaves the off-the-field dramatics out of the lockeroom, the Breaker pitch could be a second home for Ricky. Tom Dicton and Dustin also look to vye for a winger position as the are both extremely fast and nimble players. Also Jared Lavelle, Joe Mullin, Gut, Bill Noss, Brian Montes, Jim Defabo, and Brian Ludlum will hopefully be able to help us out on a part-time basis in the backline because of the recent location and moving situations. Playing Full Back will presumably be Dave Battisti, who currently holds the position of team treasurer. David brings bone crushing tackles, speed and a great foot, along with great experience. Last but not least, Mikey “The Avenger” returns to the team. Mikey has been on the team since the end of the fall season last year and has played in the summer and spring season this year. Mikey brings team unity and a lighter atmosphere to the team and possibly may get his first taste of the rugby pitch this season. Mikey also has made nearly every practice and team function or social since he has joined the club which is a great accomplishment and something many of us can’t say for ourselves. Also, let’s wish the best of luck to Chris Pavliack for a fast and speedy recovery with hopes of returning back to the pitch as soon as possible. Gary Milazzo and Joe Headings also look to return to the breakers following their culinary school outings in the near future. Good luck to Heath in Florida and hopefully Heath can take some vacation time in the summer to win some rugby tournaments with the Breakers RFC!

In summary, the Wilkes-Barre Breakers RFC look to have a very strong and complete side filled with the right touch of experience and youth while competing during this Spring season. Good luck gents, lets make our founders, families, and teamates proud to be associated with the Wilkes-Barre Breakers RFC and the continual tradition it upholds!

Written by: “Mercury” Matt DiLiberto for Spring 2007